Highgate Harriers Celebrate victory at events held at the Parliament Hill Track

Published: 15 July, 2010
by AMY COTTER

THE weather wasn’t the only record-breaking activity on Saturday with the Highgate Harriers men winning their home meet in Division One of the Southern League at the Parliament Hill track.

Competing against 23 rival clubs, Highgate won the fixture by more than 20 points with man-of-the-match Ryan McKinaly winning all three of his events.

The Harriers, who finished ninth in the league last year, have already won three matches this time around, a feat they haven’t managed since 1994.

The sweltering heat didn’t stop the Harriers with McKinaly taking the 800m in a time of 1:57.

The specialist steeplechaser continued with wins in the 1500m with a time of 4:08 and the 3000m steeplechase with a more modest 10:09.

The Harriers ‘A’ team produced more deserving victories including team manager Matt Dore-Weeks, who won the 110m hurdles in a time of 15.6 secs.

Simon Child, just bouncing back from injury, landed a victory in the 400m hurdles with a time of 56.9 secs.

Sprinter Greg Winfield won the ‘A’ stream 400m with a season’s best time of 50.1 secs.

Highgate’s top relay team of Amin Ahmadnia, Justin Duru, Hakeem Gabriel and Marius Guei sprinted to victory in the 4x100m, while Child, Winfield, Ben Caird and Stephen Kelly (pictured above) won the 4x400m relay.

Highgate’s ‘B’ team also produced a string of winning performances with Calvin Chua flying high in the triple jump with a distance of 12.45m.

Ollie Barnett won the 110m hurdles with a time of 17.4 secs and the 400m hurdles in 61.4 secs while distance runner Shaun Dixon secured success in both the 800m in 2.01 and the 1500m with a time of 4.10. Sprinter Kelly, who came second in the ‘B’ string 400m in both the previous matches, went one better this time around, winning his race with a time of 51.7.

The Harriers continued to dominate, with ‘A’ stream Dwain Broomfield finishing second in the 100m and Duru finishing second in the 200m. Glenn Saqui claimed second place in the 5000m and the 3000 steeplechase while Stephen Whiting was placed second in the ‘B‘ string 5000m.

Jumper Chua took second place in the long jump with a distance of 6.08m, while Max Pellet jumped 5.93m respectively in the ‘B’ string competition.

Harriers’ javelin thrower Thierry Leberton threw 38.72m, finishing second, proudly representing the club as its only athlete in the throwing events. Highgate Harriers men are currently third in the league with only one match left, which takes place in Peterborough on July 31, in what promises to be a fight to the finish.